By ALISTAIR TAIT
Senior WriterPADSTOW, England – Chris Cannon just can’t catch a break.
Just when it looked like his life was going in the right direction, along came the weather and kicked Cannon in the teeth.
The 20-year-old Englishman is just six shots off the lead heading into the final two rounds of the Brabazon Trophy, the English Amateur Stroke Play Championship. The ex-Wake Forest player trails Frenchman David Antonelli by six shots, but he should be closer.
Cannon fell victim to the vagaries of the English weather. He returned a 7-under-par 65 around the par-72, 6,962-yard Trevose Golf & Country Club only to see his day’s work washed away.
His efforts became redundant when persistent rain forced cancellation of the second round. Play was suspended at 1:20 p.m., and never got going again. It rained constantly for the next three hours, forcing English Golf Union officials to reduce the tournament to 54 holes.
Cannon was one of only 48 players to complete the second round. The EGU decided to base the cut on Round 1 scores. Seventy-two players on 1-under par advanced to the final two rounds.
“It was a logistic nightmare,” said EGU Championship Chairman Ray Saunders. “All the greens were flooded, the rain was continuing and we had an additional forecast for the area that it would get worse.”
Cannon had more reason than most to wail at the heavens. His life has been full of complications recently. Six months ago he wondered if he would ever play golf again.
The Englishman started at Wake Forest last September, and had established himself on the team when health problems nearly cost him his life.
He fell violently ill on December 14 last year after eating a meal. Cannon thought it was food poisoning at first, but when he got to hospital they discovered he had a collapsed lung.
“The doctors initially thought I had ripped my esophagus and that air was leaking into my lung,” Cannon said. “Another doctor thought I might have had a blister in my lung that burst. Whatever it was, I was actually quite lucky. I had trouble breathing and was fortunate to get really good medical help.”
Cannon lost 20 pounds. He couldn’t practice or play, and he was restricted from flying for three months. He didn’t play golf again for Wake Forest until March.
“I’d got fit and strong and everything was on schedule and it all disappeared in about four days,” he said.
Cannon made his comeback at the General Jim Hackler Championship and finished 20th to help Wake Forest to victory. That was his final event for the Deacons. Cannon quit soon afterwards.
“I loved the team, the coach and playing golf, but the academic side of college wasn’t for me,” Cannon said. “The illness really compounded things for me. I’d gone to school to play golf and all of a sudden that was taken away from me. I just wanted to come home.”
Near death experiences have a way of putting things in perspective. Cannon can attest to that.
He had more reason than most to rail at the EGU’s decision to wipe out the entire second round. His handicap suffered as a result.
Cannon’s current handicap is plus 1. That may sound impressive, but it doesn’t cut much ice in elite amateur events. Players need to be at least plus 2 to get into the big British amateur tournaments.
Had his 65 stood, Cannon’s handicap would have probably moved to plus 1.7.
“But to be honest, the handicap is not what I’m thinking about,” Cannon said. “My focus is on winning the tournament and getting myself ready for (European) Tour School at the end of the year.
“After what I’ve been through, it’s just not worth worrying about things I can’t control. The illness has made me a stronger person. It helped put things in perspective. I’m much more relaxed than I was. So although my score didn’t count, in the grand scheme of things it isn’t that big a deal.”
Cannon has made 16 birdies in 36 holes. If he can eliminate the bogeys over the final two rounds, then his name on the Brabazon Trophy alongside the likes of Sir Michael Bonallack, Sandy Lyle, Ronan Rafferty and Peter Baker, would be a big deal indeed.
After what he’s been through the last six months, it would be the stuff of fairy tales.
• • •
Alistair Tait is a
Golfweek senior writer. To reach him e-mail
atait@golfweek.com.
•
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Posted: 5/17/2008
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